American Towman Operations Editor Randall Resch instructs on avoiding sloppy actions on-scene, questionable vehicle operations and chances that tower’s repeatedly take. His seminar, “Wreckers in Trouble,” will take place during Tow Industry Week, May 9-12 at the South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
atshowplace.com

Tower Cited for Pot in Truck

A tower was cited while towing a car in Palm Beach, Florida, after police found marijuana in his truck, according to a police report. The towman was towing a car when a police officer smelled marijuana coming from Handy's tow truck, according to the report. Police said they found a blue pipe in the truck along with several black and brown tin tobacco containers filled with a combined 3.4 grams of marijuana. Police cited the tower and charged him with marijuana possession.

Source: palmbeachdailynews.com.

From the American Towman News Bureau

Robert L. Snook

Probation for Tow Truck Theft

A Danville, Illinois, man who admitted he stole a tow truck that had shown up to help him has been sentenced to 30 months of probation and ordered to get a substance-abuse evaluation. Robert L. Snook, 42, pleaded guilty this week to aggravated unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle. Snook admitted that on Jan. 22, 2017, he took off in a Tatman's tow truck that had been summoned to pick him and his disabled Chevrolet Equinox. When the tower got out at one point to readjust the disabled SUV to make it more secure, Snook slid over and stole the tow truck. Police pursued the truck on Interstate 74 at low speeds for several hours and ultimately arrested Snook when it ran out of gas. Source: news-gazette.com.

Man Flees Fiery Wreck

Police in Houston, Texas, are searching for a driver accused of fleeing the scene of a fiery crash this week. Police say a van slammed into a tow truck before bursting into flames. The tower, Mahmoud Yousif, said the driver of the van told him someone was still inside the burning vehicle. Yousif said he ran to the van in attempts to help, only to look back and see the man running away. Firefighters arrived and did not find anyone inside the van. "I'm glad no one was in there except the man who ran away." Yousif said, who sustained minor injuries. Source: abc13.com.

TODAY

Tower Cited for Pot in Truck

Police smelled marijuana coming from cab

Probation for Tow Truck Theft

Low-speed chase follows crime of opportunity

Man Flees Fiery Wreck

Towman misdirected towards burning van

McKinney Joins Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald Towing & Recovery Equipment recently added Gene McKinney to its leadership team as general manager.

McKinney joins from Jerr-Dan Corp., where he led as Southeast Regional Manager.

"I saw a great opportunity here," McKinney said. "I really appreciate the aggressive growth of the [Fitzgerald] company. They believe in having enough inventories on hand to meet customer needs in all aspects of the business.

"My goal is to make Fitzgerald Towing & Recovery Equipment the No. 1 Jerr-Dan distributor in the country. Fitzgerald's expertise on glider kits goes hand-in-hand with wrecker sales. I believe this will allow us to get that No. 1 spot."

McKinney has 40-plus years of experience in the industry and 21 years of experience as regional manager at Jerr-Dan. McKinney will help Fitzgerald plan for nationwide growth by working with both the manufacturer and customers.

Gee, Thanks Punxsutawney Phil

It's a tow business' utopia, right? The snow is falling by the foot, all that money is coming in, the operators are all busy—tow businesses can go on like this forever, correct?

Well, according to a recent piece written by Dan Spies, executive director of the Pennsylvania Towing Association, all is not as heavenly as it may seem.

There's a constant pressure on the business round-the-clock; equipment is continuously running, operators are going non-stop and the phone is ringing off the hook.

If the equipment breaks down, there's a problem. The business is down a truck, thus straining the other units that have to pick up the slack. Calls for dead batteries take their toll, as many companies don't stock the most common ones used (according to Spies); and those that do, run out of stock with no delivery date in sight for additional stock.

Winter is also flu season; if your company unfortunately is affected with the bug, chances are you're going to have at least one operator—maybe more—calling in sick. That puts additional pressure on your "lucky" unaffected drivers. (By the way, check out Brian J. Riker's excellent Tow Business & Operations article this week on dealing with the flu season.)

Then there's the human factor. All of this pressure and bad weather sometimes (oftentimes?) leads to tempers flaring, thus the business owner has to put up with even more.

Add in the element of balancing safety with bad weather, road conditions and trying to provide decent ETAs ... "it's like a jungle out there—sometimes you wonder how you keep from going under," (apologies to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five).

I'll have to admit: I never thought of it from that angle until reading Spies' article. It all makes sense, too.

So this week, I'll just say to be careful during the five weeks of winter we have left (thanks a lot, Punxsutawney Phil) and take copious notes of how to do it even better next year.

--Charles Duke

Piled Up in Massachusetts

by Jim "Buck" Sorrenti

On Jan. 20, 2018, one person was killed and three others injured in a six-car pileup on Interstate 91 northbound in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. A 2014 Peterbilt tractor-trailer struck the rear of a 2017 Freightliner tractor-trailer, which had slowed due to construction. The Peterbilt driver continued northbound hitting several other vehicles that were also traveling slowly.

The Peterbilt tractor-trailer then crashed through a guardrail before stopping in the median. Boxes of shampoo were strewn across the highway when the trailer split open in the crash, covering the highway with about 300 yards of debris.

Most of the six vehicles were badly damaged in the crash and Interstate Towing in Chicopee was called to clear the mess.

"Our first call came into respond at 7:47a.m.," said Interstate owner Jeremy Procon. "The Massachusetts State Police requested our immediate response with a possible entrapment.

"Dan Heroux, operator number 95, quickly assessed the scene and stated that we needed to 'step it up' since one of the tractor-trailer units was on a 20-degree angle and fire rescue was concerned about stability," Procon said.

Procon was second to reach the scene in one of his service trucks and assisted Brian McNally with the Jerr-Dan 60-ton rotator.

"We were quick to learn that this was subsequently a fatality and the operator of the tractor-trailer unit in the ditch had passed," Procon said. "We immediately secured the area of any potential dangers along with Longmeadow Fire for further investigation by the Massachusetts State Police (Collision Analysis & Reconstruction Section) Unit as well as the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement unit."

Jeremy, Jeffrey Procon, McNally and Randy Purinton began to focus on the recovery aspect. They initially removed all the passenger vehicles from the scene and had them transported to Interstate's location in Chicopee for inside storage for further investigation.

With the Jerr-Dan 60-ton rotator, they rigged the rear doors of the tractor-trailer unit that was struck from behind, while they used their K12 cut saw to help secure loose parts. They towed that back to Chicopee for further inspection and investigation.

"Once we secured those vehicles," Jeremy said, "we then focused on the severely damaged tractor-trailer unit loaded with approximately 40,000 pounds of shampoo bottles. We were faced with shampoo all over the highway, making it very slippery. MassDOT was able to dispatch a sander to spread a heavy layer of sand on the highway so we didn't sustain any worker injuries.

"Once the medical examiner was finished removing the deceased, we began to rig the entire unit for recovery."

It was decided to pull the tractor-trailer out as a whole unit with one of the rotators while the other rotator held the tractor-trailer from tipping over. They secured as much product as they could on their 53' trailer, and all debris that was unsalvageable was placed into a roll-off dumpster and dump trailer for disposal.

Interstate employee Shawn Pierce removed shampoo bottles and other debris from a manhole. During the crash, the cover of the manhole flew off and debris had to be removed to prevent it from flowing into the Connecticut River.

CJ's Towing Unlimited of Springfield supplied a street sweeper to assist in the cleanup.

"Once secured, we used our Jerr-Dan headsets to communicate the recovery," Jeremy said. "We had spotters at every angle while we slowly pulled the entire unit back onto the highway. We then secured and crash-wrapped the [tractor-trailer] unit for transport to Yard 1 for further inspection and investigation.

"Our recovery team remained on scene doing additional clean up and street sweeping. All units returned and we restocked all support vehicles for the next recovery," he said.

Editor's Note: Look for the full in-depth story in the March issue of American Towman Magazine.

Show Yours @ TIWDo you have a recovery to share with TIW readers? Send some pics and info to our Field Editor Jim "Buck" Sorrenti at jimchaos69@yahoo.com; your story may even be selected for print in American Towman magazine!

Urgent.ly

Urgent.ly, a digital roadside assistance platform, recently announced an upcoming integration with Towbook's cloud-based towing software. Roadside assistance and towing professionals will be able to accept and manage Urgent.ly jobs on the Towbook platform. Stop by their booths during the American Towman ShowPlace taking place at the South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 9-12.

geturgently.com; towbook.com

By Don Lomax
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The current national political landscape has been _______ for business: